Fantasy Baseball Daily Picks

Guys I Like

SP Max Scherzer

He’s among the least expensive pitchers and quietly is a great value. Scherzer takes on the moribund Seattle offense that just got perfecto’d by Phil Humber, and Scherzer has an ERA of 2.00 lifetime v Seattle. He has also been better this year than his 7.98 ERA and 1.64 WHIP indicate. He has two straight quality starts and has struck out 17 batters against only 4 walks (though he is giving up an BAA of .333).

OF BJ Upton

Upton has made only three starts this season after spending the early part of April on the DL. He is just 2-8 but has four RBIs. Today he faces Ervin Santana, who hasn’t been lighting anyone up this year. I’m paying top dollar for Matt Kemp and Josh Hamilton, because they just keep rolling, so Upton offers nice savings and explosive potential as a third OF.

1B Adam Dunn

Yep, I’m going back to the well again with Dunn. He’s hitting, he’s driving in runs, he’s walking…he’s doing all of the things Adam Dunn should do, and he continues to be a tremendous value. I’m going to feast on it until Dunn either comes crashing back to earth or the market corrects itself.

SS Mike Aviles

Like Dunn, I’m going to keep riding the Aviles train until I get thrown off of it. He has at least one hit in nine of the last ten games, with three multi-hit games sprinkled in. He’s also 5-10 off Minnesota starter Nick Blackburn with a SLG of .900. And the price is still right.

3B Alex Rodriguez

ARod is starting to come around. He has homers in two of his last three games, and Rangers Ballpark in Arlington has been known too host its fair share of high scoring ballgames. And with Yu Darvish apparently scared to throw strikes against the likes of Seattle and Minnesota, what is he going to do with a bona fide legend in the batter’s box against him? I see little downside to playing ARod today, with lots of upside; and you can get him for less than $100k.

Guys I Don’t Like

SP Adam Wainwright

For what you have to pay to start him, I don’t like the value. The matchup is good against the Cubs, but I’m waiting until Wainwright strings together a few successful starts as he recovers from TJ surgery.

OF Josh Willingham

His cumulative numbers still look good with so few games having been played, but Willingham hasn’t really done much over the last 10 games. He has one homer and has only driven a run in three of the 10 games. Plus now he’s back at home in cavernous Target Field. Despite all this, he’s among the 10 most expensive OFs. No thanks.

1B Albert Pujols

I’ll continue to list Pujols here just so everyone gets the picture. We’re almost through the first month of the season and Albert has an OPS of .654. .654! He’s hitless in his last 11 ABs since his three-double game on the 19th. It costs too much to get him and just wait for him to got hot. It’ll happen, but wait until then to play him.